Bérenger

Count [probably of Maine], fl. 891×895.
[Marquis of Neustria?][also count of Rennes, according to a late
(and doubtful) source]

Bérenger is known primarily from a charter of 891×895, cited
as an early example in which one vassal had two different lords,
e.g., a certain Patericus, who had as lord both count Bérenger
(apparently of Maine, although this is not explicitly stated) and
Bérenger's "amicus" and abbot Robert of
Saint-Martin (later king Robert I of France) [See, e.g., Ganshof
(1929), 267-9]. He was evidently the same person as the count Berengarius
whose death date of 13 December on the same day as the death of
bishop Lambert of Le Mans, in an unknown year is recorded in the
necrology of the cathedral at Le Mans [Nec. Mans, 329]. Although
these are apparently the only two contemporary notices of count
Bérenger, there have been a number of attempts to add further
details, most notably in identifying him with a certain count
Bérenger whom Dudo names as the father of Poppa,
wife of Rollo of Normandy [see e.g.,
Merlet (1925) and the discussion below]. Based on the word "amicus"
and on the apparent simultaneous existence of more than one
marquis of Neustria during the ninth century, Guillotel has
suggested that Bérenger was a feudal equal of Robert (brother of
Eudes, then king), and also a marquis of Neustria [Guillotel
(2000)], and he has been followed in this by others [e.g.,
Keats-Rohan (1997, citing Guillotel's forthcoming work); Jackman
(2000)]. The suggestion that he was also count of Rennes is
supported only by late evidence, as discussed below.

Date of Birth:Unknown.Place of Birth:Unknown.

Date of Death:13 December of an unknown year.[Nec. Mans, 329, shows the death of a count Beringerius
on 13 December on the same day as archbishop Lambert ["Eodem
die, obiit Lambertus, episcopus, et Beringerius comes."],
who was probably the same man as the present count Bérenger]Place of Death:Unknown.

Father:Unknown.

Mother:Unknown.

Spouse(s):Unknown.

Children:Uncertain.

Although there is no solid proof for any family
relationship of Bérenger with any other individual, there is
also no shortage of speculation regarding such alleged family
relations. Some of these conjectures are discussed in the
Commentary section.

Commentary

At an uncertain date in the 890's, provost Ecfred and Adalmar,
advocate of Saint-Martin de Tours, approached count Bérenger in
Le Mans in order to complain that his vassal Patericus had
usurped property of the abbey, to which Bérenger replied that
Patericus was also a vassal of Robert, abbot of Saint-Martin (the
future king Robert I), his amicus, from whom he held a
more important benefice [Gall. Christ. 14, Inst. 53: "Notitia qualiter venit Ecfredus praepositus cum
Adalmaro, advocato S. Martini, in civitate Cenomannis, die octavo
kal. Maii, feria II, ante Beringerium comitem et reclamaverunt se
quod vassalus ipsius, Patericus nomine, res fratrum, quas Guitto
propter advocariam olim tenuerant, malo ordine retinebat. Tunc
Beringerius comes respondit quod non esset suus solummodo
vasallus, quamvis ex suo beneficio aliquid haberet, sed potius
vasallus Rotberti, amici sui, quia plus ab ipso beneficium
tenebat. ..."; later confirmed on 13 June in the fourth
year of the reign of Eudes]. Monday, 24 April, would match 892,
which would, however, be the fifth year of Eudes, not the fourth.
Levillain [as cited by Merlet (1925), 553] would emend "feria
II" to "feria V" and change the
fourth year of the reign to the eighth (IIII to VIII)
to give 24 April 895. Merlet would emend the date to 13 kal. May
(assuming XIII was misread as VIII), giving 19
April 891. While Merlet's date requires fewer emendations and
seems more consistent with the statement that Bérenger
died on the same day as bishop Lambert (who appears to have died
in the early 890's), I have not had the opportunity to examine
Levillain's article.

Possible daughter:Poppa, m. Rollo
of Normandy.The case that Bérenger was the
father of Poppa, wife of Rollo of Normandy, is based on the
statement of Dudo of St. Quentin (early eleventh century) that
Rollo carried off and married Popa, daughter of princeps
Bérenger [Dudo iii, 36 (pp.78-9)], along with the proposed
identification of Dudo's Bérenger with the present Bérenger.
The major weaknesses in the case are Dudo's unreliability
(especially for the earlier period) and the uncertainty of the
identification of Poppa's father Bérenger with this particular
Bérenger. See the page of Poppa for more details.

Less convincing are various other conjectures
which would attempt to provide Bérenger with a spouse or
ancestry, or to identify other possible children. Keats-Rohan
(1997) had a detailed discussion of Poppa's possible ancestry,
following many others in suggesting that Poppa's father was the
present count Bérenger, and offered two different hypotheses
regarding Bérenger's ancestry, based to a large extent on
onomastic evidence. Given that two different alternatives were
hypothesized, and that these conjectures depend on accepting
previous suggestions which are themselves conjectural, nothing
definite can be said about the ancestry or marriage(s) of
Bérenger. The two hypotheses offered by Keats-Rohan [pp. 196-7;
p. 153 in French version] were as follows.

Keats-Rohan "Hypothesis 1"(very conjectural):
Grandfather:Gebhard
of Lahngau (of the Konradiner dynasty).
Spouse:NN [Adalind
(conjectured name)],daughter of Heinrich of Thuringia,
brother of Poppo II.
In this hypothesis, Keats-Rohan relied on the then unpublished
work of Hubert Guillotel [since published in Guillotel
(2000)], suggesting that Bérenger was a grandson of the
Konradiner Gebhard of Lahngau.

In addition to the suggested connection of
Bérenger and Rollo of Normandy, there have been various
conjectures, often mutually contradictory, which would connect
Bérenger to the family of the counts of Rennes. One seductive
reason for this is the appearance in the records of a count
Bérenger or Juhel Bérenger on a number of occasions in the
tenth century. The other is the mention, apparently only in very
late sources, of a count Bérenger of Rennes who was supposedly
ruling about the year 890. This can be traced back to a statement
by Pierre le Baud (d. 1505):

"[... mais après] s'assemblèrent partie
desdits Bretons sous le viscomte Bérenger de Rennes [, fils du
comte Salomon neveu & filleul du roy Salomon dessus nomme,
fils de sa soeur & de Moderand comte de Rennes. Lequel
Berenger & Allain comte de Dol qui deffendoient la région
par devers Neustrie, se joignirent ensemble] & firent
bataille près le fleuve Coynon contre une multitude desdits
Normans qu'ils occirent. Et Allain le Grand, avec l'autre partie
qu'il cueillit assailit une autre partie desdits Normans au
territoire Nantois assez près du fleuve de Loire dont il occist
la pluspart et les autres s'enfuirent; & ainsi chassèrent
les Bretons lesdits Normands de leur région." [Le Baud 3:
204; de la Borderie (1890), ----, quotes another edition of Le
Baud, Hist. de Bret., p. 127, with only "..." for the
part in brackets (plus calling Bérenger "comte"
instead of viscomte" and a few other relatively minor
differences); (Translation: "...but afterward part of the
said Bretons gathered under [vis]count Bérenger of Rennes, son
of count Salomon, nephew and godson of king Salomon named above,
son of his sister and of Moderand, count of Rennes. That
Bérenger and Alain, count of Dol, who defended the region near
Neustria, joined together and made battle near the Coynon river
against a multitude of the said Normans, whom they killed. And
Alain le Grand, with another part which he gathered, attacked
another part of the said Normans in Nantois territory rather
close to the river Loire, of whom he killed the greates part, and
the others fled, and thus the Bretons chased the said Normans
from the region.")]

If this statement of Le Baud could be trusted,
then there would be a plausible case for making the present
Bérenger a count of Rennes. However, even though Le Baud had
access to many old documents now lost, there is good reason for
caution here, for there is another well known context in which we
would find two Bretons counts named Alain and Bérenger fighting
against the Vikings, and that would involve the tenth century
contemporaries Alain Barbetorte and [Juhel] Bérenger [see, for
example, Flodoard's Annals, s.a. 945, MGH SS 3: 391]. This concern is verified by another passage of Le
Baud:

"Et ainsi furent, selon lesdits
Chronicques, les Bretons en celuy temps contraires aux Normans,
combien qu'en celles desdits Normans soit dit qu'ils obéirent à
Guillaume longue espée, & à Richard son fils, & que
Berenger comte de Rennes, & Allain comte de Dol estoient à
Picquigny quand le duc Guillaume y fut occis en l'an 942 & es
expéditions de Richard & d'Algrode roy de Dannemarche conte
Loys transmarin roy de France, qui ne se peut accorder: car le
comte Berenger n'estoit pas lors vivant, mais regnoit pour luy
Juhael son fils. Aussi que selon les Annaux, les Bretons avecques
leur princes allèrent à Rouen en l'aide dudit roy Loys contre
lesdit Normans l'an 943." [Le Baud 3:209] (Translation:
"And thus, according to the said chronicles, the Bretons
were at that time opposed to the Normans, although in those
[chronicles] of the said Normans it is said that they obeyed
William Longsword and Richard his son, and that Bérenger, count
of Rennes, and Alain, count of Dol, were at Picquigny when duke
William was killed there in 942, and in expeditions of Richard
and "Algrode" [i.e., Hagrold or Harald] king of Denmark
against Louis d'Outre-Mer, king of France, with which I do not
agree: for count Bérenger was not still living, but his son
Juhael ruled in his place. Also, according to the annals, the
Bretons with their princes went to Rouen to aid the said king
Louis against the said Normans in 943.")

Thus, there seems to be no reason to regard Le
Baud's allegedly ninth century Breton counts Bérenger of Rennes
and Alain of Dol as being distinct from the known tenth century
counts [Juhel] Bérenger of Rennes and Alain Barbetorte. For this
reason, we must set aside the supposed Breton connection of the
ninth century Bérenger for lack of evidence.

Conjectured son (chronologically
improbable) or descendant (evidence weak):Juhel
Bérenger,
fl. 945×ca. 970, count of Rennes.There are a number of differences between
various attempts to genealogically connect the present count
Bérenger with count Juhel Bérenger of Rennes, either as father
and son [e.g., Merlet (1925)], or as a more distant descendant
(chronologically more suitable), possibly with an intervening
female generation, and sometimes with Juhel Bérenger (almost
certainly incorrectly) split into a father Bérenger (-ca. 958)
and a son Juhel (ca. 958-ca. 970) [Guillotel (1984)]. In general,
these theories use the (still unproven) supposed connection of
Bérenger with Brittany as the starting point for an onomastic
argument. More details about these theories can be found on the
page for Juhel
Bérenger.

Conjectured daughter
(very doubtful):Wendilgard ("Henrici regis de
filia neptis"), m. Udalrich, count of
Linzgau and Thurgau.See Jackman (2000), 137-8. This conjecture
assumes as a starting point that Hypothesis 1 of Keat-Rohan is
correct (which, if true, would imply that Bérenger's wife were a
sister of Hadewig, wife of Otto the Great, son of king
Henry/Heinrich I), and then uses a very novel interpretation of
"Henrici regis de filia neptis" to get the
above. There does not seem to be any good reason to accept the
conjecture.

Bibliography

Le Baud = Charles de la Lande de Calan, ed., Cronicques
& Ystoires des Bretons par Pierre le Baud, 4 vols.
(Société des Bibliophiles Bretons et de l'Histoire de Bretagne,
Rennes, 1910-2). This was taken from Le Baud's previously
unpublished first redaction (1480), with selections from the
second redaction given in volume 3, pages 172-213. Pierre Le Baud
died on 19 September 1505. [Note: I now have access to the entire
second redaction, published in Paris in 1638, but I have not yet
updated the bibliographic citations to include this version.]

Dudo = Eric Christiansen, ed. & trans., Dudo
of St. Quentin, History of the Normans (The Boydell Press,
Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1998). Citation is by book and chapter of
Dudo's work, with the page number in parentheses.